Carrie responded to me:
> >As for Hammett's "Harvest", I can understand it
is dull to someone. >It's
> >so tense and brief that readers who like deep
characterizations (bloated,
> >if you ask me) that are so popular in crime and
thriller >genre nowadays.
I was wondering whether no one would notice that my sentence
stops in the middle. I don't know anymore what I was going to
say - maybe just that the readers nowadays really expect more
of characterizations. And so they are bored with "Red
Harvest". And that is understandable. But is it
acceptable?
Now, as for this sentence:
> >But they are wrong and they should read more
Hammett.
> I can't tell if you're kidding or not; it never
occurred to me that somebody
> could enjoy the "wrong" thing
I was kidding, at least mildly. But they should read more
Hammett and stuff like that, because the deep
characterizations are not the only thing in the world. I've
been asking myself (and Rara-avians also) whether the deep
thoughts and other stuff make crime literature more
literature. I don't think so. The style can be ripe and full
even though the characters are not. The view of the world can
be interesting even though the characters are not. (And I
should add that there is no book where interesting people
make a good book without good style and/or interesting view
of the world.)
> And do you
> really think there's no middle ground between
Hammett's thumbnail sketches
> and "bloated" story telling? Are Connelly, Crumley,
Lehane, and Pelecanos
> all "bloated" because their characters generally
receive more than a couple
> sentences worth of description/development before
they start shooting each
> other?
Of course there is a middle ground and I think that of those
you mention at least Pelecanos is there. (Haven't yet read
any Connelly, but it seems that his books are huge, so they
*might* be bloated.) But I'm more of a Leonardist: dialogue
reveals more than deep thoughts and the action takes place in
a clearly defined context, milieu and time, and therefore
they tell us more than deep thoughts and
characterizations.
I started Crais's "Demolition Angel" couple of nights ago.
It's at least okay and it's not bloated, but I don't know
what it adds up to to have the lead character dwelled in
personal tragedy (the blowing off of his lover and herself).
But a question: this is my first Crais and first to one
translated in Finnish. How does it compare to Elvis Cole
books?
Juri
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